Bandai Namco Studios Singapore is now under the Nintendo umbrella.
This week, Nintendo officially announced that it has entered an agreement to acquire shares of Bandai Namco Studios Singapore. Bandai Namco Studios’ Singapore arm will become a subsidiary of Nintendo following the acquisition of shares, and will operate under a new name: Nintendo Studios Singapore.
Nintendo acquires shares for Bandai Namco Studios Singapore
Nintendo’s president and representative director Shuntaro Furukawa announced this week that it had entered into a “share transfer agreement” with Bandai Namco Studios Singapore. The agreement was made “for the purpose of strengthening its development structure,” according to an official Nintendo corporate release.
The acquisition will ensure that Bandai Namco Studios Singapore becomes a subsidiary of Nintendo, and will thus continue operating under a new name: Nintendo Studios Singapore. It is currently unclear how this acquisition will affect Bandai Namco Studios’ other offices in Malaysia and Japan.
Bandai Namco Studios is itself a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Entertainment, which has published the majority of its game releases. The game developer has worked on titles like Tekken 8, Scarlet Nexus, and Tales of Arise. It is currently developing a sequel to Code Vein, entitled Code Vein II.
Bandai Namco Studios has had a long history of developing games with Nintendo. Most recently, the developer co-developed Kirby Air Riders, a racing game published by Nintendo. Famously, the developer’s Singapore studio was once entrusted with lead development of Metroid Prime 4. Development later reportedly shifted to the developer’s Japan studio, and later again moved to Retro Studios.
In the corporate release, Nintendo states that the Singapore studio has a “strong expertise in creating in-game art assets,” contributing to the development of games in the Splatoon series, among others. It also has an ongoing business relationship with Nintendo, which spurred the company to acquire shares with the studio.
Nintendo intends to acquire 80% of Bandai Namco Studios Singapore shares by 1 April, 2026, with remaining shares to be acquired “after a certain period.” Hence, it can be safely assumed that Nintendo intends to acquire all available shares within the studio eventually. After these shares are acquired, the studio will be renamed Nintendo Studios Singapore.
Nintendo also noted that this acquisition will only have “a minor effect” on its results for this fiscal year.
